摘要
薇拉·凯瑟的《教授的房屋》自1925年发表以来即引起评论界的极大关注。在这部作品中,凯瑟实际介入了当时美国史学界历史客观主义和历史相对主义的论争。凯瑟将历史书写呈现在文本中,以敏锐的观察力刻画了第一次世界大战后史学研究根基客观性受到的围困及其对史学家的冲击。小说中历史学教授圣彼得陷入历史认识论的矛盾中,其对言说历史的失语体现了一战后史学界的分歧状况,表明19世纪建立在理性基础上的历史发展观受到严重挑战,20世纪初历史学面临重大变迁。这位历史学家的际遇包含着凯瑟对如何言说历史和追求“高尚的梦想”的迷茫、焦虑和反思。
Willa Cather's novel The Professor's House has received great attention since its publication in 1925.In this novel Cather actually gets involved in the then debate between historical objectivism and historical relativism in American historical society.Cather presents the historical writing in her text and depicts how objectivity,the foundation of historical research is besieged and the subsequent impact upon the historians.The protagonist,St.Peter,a history professor,is caught up in the crisis of historical epistemology.His silence on historical writing indicates the divergence in the postwar American historical field,which shows that the concept of historical development based on reason was severely challenged at the end of the 19th century,and historiography was faced with great changes.The encounters that St.Peter as a historian meets implies Willa Cather’s perplexity,anxiety and reflection concerning the problem of how to write history and the pursuit of“the noble dream.”
作者
孙晓青
Sun Xiaoqing(Foreign Languages College,Henan University,Kaifeng,Henan Province,China)
出处
《外国文学》
CSSCI
北大核心
2020年第3期40-50,共11页
Foreign Literature
基金
教育部人文社会科学研究规划基金项目“现象学视域下的文学印象主义”(12YJA752021)。